Method and system for facilitating demand-driven distribution of content

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems for facilitating distribution of content are disclosed. In one example embodiment, a method of facilitating demand-driven population and management of online content within a video-on-demand (VOD) service includes receiving trend information and a link reference at one or more input ports, the reference being at least indirectly indicative of a location at which the content is available, and obtaining and normalizing, by way of one or more processing devices, metadata pertaining to the content. The method further includes determining business rule information pertaining to the content based at least indirectly upon the trend information, content provider policy information, and the normalized metadata, via the processing device(s), and outputting via one or more output ports the business rule information for receipt by the VOD service, whereby availability and prioritization of the content at the VOD service is based at least in part upon the output business rule information.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/101,904, filed May 5, 2011, which is hereby incorporated by referenceherein in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to content distribution and, moreparticularly, to methods and systems for enabling or facilitatingVideo-On-Demand (VOD) accessing of content.

BACKGROUND

Recent market research (e.g., Nielsen three-screen report) indicatesthat users are consuming more content, not just on television but alsoonline. The data also shows that a third of online content consumershook up their personal computers (PCs) to their television sets (TVs) inorder to watch that content. This underscores the fact that users wantthe convenience and diversity of online content—but with the lean-back,shared viewing experience of a big screen TV.

Notwithstanding this burgeoning demand for online content that isTV-accessible, the options available for users today in terms ofbringing online (or internet or web) content to their TV typicallyinvolve the use of additional hardware and software bridges, e.g., HDMIadapters to connect PCs to TVs, or the purchase of additional‘set-top-box like’ consoles such as AppleTV or Playstation3. Yet theimplementation of such options can be costly. Further, such solutionsalso bring added complexity in terms of software configuration andsetup, making them attractive mostly to early adopters or tech-savvyconsumers.

The market research also indicates that X-shifting trends (i.e.,consumers watching time-shifted, place-shifted or device-shiftedcontent) are on the rise, driving the adoption of “Video-On-Demand”(VOD) solutions that cater to user convenience in content consumption.Because cable operators offer VOD features in their subscriberofferings, this is not only familiar to most consumers but gives themutility without the direct hardware costs and setup complexity.

Yet conventional VOD solutions are not appropriate for allowingconsumers to meet their above-described desires for TV-accessible online(or internet/web) content, for several reasons. In particular, storageand processing resources available at VOD providers are necessarilyfinite and expensive, making it impractical for the operator to storeevery possible content item available online. Further, conventional VODcontent tends to be carefully selected and otherwise processed so as tomake the most desired content available to users and to make the bestuse of the aforementioned limited storage and processing resourcesavailable to VOD providers. For example, conventional VOD systems oftenemploy catalogs that are determined in advance by content providers oroperators and then “pitched” to head-ends. Although such conventionalselection/processing is suitable for conventional VOD content, it is notsuitable in relation to online content given the volume of contentinvolved, the rapid evolution of and changes in such content, and rapidchanges in user demand for various content. In particular, conventionalVOD systems are often slow to respond to sudden changes in demand (peaksand valleys) as often can occur in relation to online content for any ofa variety of reasons. As a result, conventional VOD systems may fail tocontain or offer large amounts of content that are suddenly in-demand,or may reserve valuable storage and processing resources for contentthat is past its prime from a consumer demand perspective.

It would therefore be advantageous if an improved system or method couldbe developed that facilitated the delivery of TV-accessible onlinecontent to users and, in at least some embodiments, overcame one or moreof the limitations associated with the provision of content by way ofconventional VOD systems particularly so as to allow for both largevolumes of online content to be made TV-accessible to users and/or alsoto enhance the degree to which the online content made TV-accessible islikely to be desired by users or otherwise is most suitable for beingmade TV-accessible.

SUMMARY

The present inventors have recognized the desire of consumers forTV-accessible online content and recognized the limitations ofconventional VOD systems in addressing this demand. The presentinventors further recognized that one or more such limitations can beovercome through the implementation of a system that, in at least someembodiments, is a content tracking and processing system operating inconjunction with a VOD system, where the content tracking and processingsystem uses dynamic demand data (e.g., real-time usage statistics andtrend statistics from social networks, trend trackers, video sites,subscriber-specific demand criteria, etc.) for video-related attributes(content links as well as keywords/attributes such as cast) to establishthe business rules for that content, and to update those rules(post-ingest) to reflect any divergence from predicted demand.

In at least some such embodiments, business rules are determined for newcontent ingested into the VOD system initially based upon certaininformation and then further modified based upon additional dynamicinformation. For example, content lifetime can initially be set based onpredicted demand (given real-time demand and history), and contentvisibility can be set by the content provider policy (if there is acontent provider, or if not, given reasonable defaults). Also forexample, related criteria (e.g., metadata) that is missing or invalid inthe content source can be sanitized or set to a reasonable default toensure business rules are processed (fired) correctly. Note that all ofthese criteria can (and typically are) then dynamically updated if atrend is seen to have changed. Again for example, a content lifetime setbased on dynamically-predicated demand can be extended if the demand forthat content continues to be sustained or reduced if the monitoreddemand falls below earlier predictions.

In at least some further embodiments, the system additionally operatesto normalize the metadata fields for online (e.g., internet or web)content so as to smooth out semantic discrepancies (e.g., if “title” isset to item name on one website and to item description on anotherwebsite, this discrepancy is recognized and eliminated), syntacticproblems (e.g., metadata containing special characters that are notaccepted by the VOD system are sanitized) and omissions (e.g., contentmisses an “advisory” rating—in such case, such a rating can be inferredor a reasonable default such as “Unrated” can be added to the content tomake it suitable for commercial grade storefront display). Suchnormalization or standardization also allows online (non-commercial)content to be ingested and processed exactly like commercial content,without requiring any substantial change to the ingest architecture orto the content discovery and purchase storefronts within the headends.

In at least some additional embodiments, the system additionallyoperates to support explicit demand via directed user requests for thatcontent where the ‘user’ is a subscriber to that cable ecosystem (and ishence associated with a subscriber ID and billing account) and therequest contains a user-defined expiry date to indicate the urgency ofthat request (i.e., that user's degree of interest) in that item. Inthis aspect, the focus can be to use the mechanism to elicitpersonalized interests data from the user and potentially create aslab-pricing model for ingesting Internet content for those subscribersbased on existing demand (i.e., position of their requested item in thehot list). It also has the benefit of allowing feedback to the consumerto sustain his engagement e.g., by notifying him if/when the content isingested—or if not, giving him the option to be notified if that contentwill be available on VOD or broadcast schedule in the future. In atleast some further embodiments, a “hot feed” based on the hot list ispitched from the remote ingest service, which contains content that hasalready been curated to optimize the revenue (based on demand) whilestill adhering to the preferences (e.g., which types of content are ofinterest) specified by individual head-ends for localized ingest.

Although the above processes can be applied with respect to online(e.g., internet or web) content, in at least some embodiments theseprocesses can also be performed in relation to commercial content aswell. In at least one embodiment, the present invention further relatesto a method of facilitating demand-driven population and management ofonline content within a video-on-demand (VOD) service. The methodincludes receiving trend information and an initial link reference atone or more first input ports, the initial link reference being at leastindirectly indicative of a location at which the online content isavailable. The method additionally includes obtaining and normalizing,by way of one or more processing devices, metadata pertaining to theonline content, and also determining business rule informationpertaining to the online content based at least indirectly upon thetrend information, content provider policy information, and thenormalized metadata, by way of the one or more processing devices. Themethod further includes outputting via one or more output ports thebusiness rule information for receipt by the VOD service, wherebyavailability and prioritization of the online content at the VOD serviceis based at least in part upon the output business rule information.

Further, in at least one additional embodiment, the present inventionrelates to a system for facilitating user consumption of online contentat a user interface device by way of a video-on-demand (VOD) device. Thesystem includes one or more input ports by which the system isconfigured to receive trend information and initial link informationrelated to the online content. The system also includes one or moreoutput ports by which the system is configured to provide processedinformation for receipt by the VOD system, and one or more memorydevices. The system further includes one or more processing devicescoupled at least indirectly to the one or more input ports, the one ormore output ports, and the one or more memory devices, and configured tooperate to provide a provider adapter portion and a business rulegenerator portion. The provider adapter portion is configured to performfirst processing by which metadata information associated with theonline content is normalized, and the business rule generator portion isconfigured to perform second processing by which one or more businessrules associated with the online content are determined, the one or morebusiness rules being determined at least in part based upon the trendinformation, whereby the processed information includes the normalizedmetadata information and the one or more business rules pertaining tothe online content.

Additionally, in at least one further embodiment, the present inventionrelates to a method of facilitating user consumption of online contentat a user interface device by way of a video-on-demand (VOD) device. Themethod includes receiving, at one or more input ports, a plurality ofinitial link references, trend information, and one or more express userrequests, where the initial link references, trend information, and oneor more express user requests pertain to a plurality of portions ofonline content available respectively at a plurality of locations atleast indirectly specified by the respective initial link references.The method also includes obtaining metadata portions pertaining to theportions of online content and normalizing the obtained metadataportions by way of a plurality of modules respectively adapted tointeract with a plurality of sources for the respective portions ofonline content, and determining a plurality of business rules pertainingto the portions of online content based at least indirectly upon thetrend information and the normalized metadata, by way of one or moreprocessing devices. The method further includes identifying a subset ofthe portions of online content with respect to which the express userrequests or other indications of interest have been received at leastindirectly from one or more users interacting at least indirectly withthe VOD device. The method also includes sending, via one or more outputports and for receipt by the VOD device, output information regardingthe subset of the portions of online content, wherein the outputinformation includes link reference information including, for each ofthe portions of online content within the subset, either a respectiveone of the initial link references or a modified link referenceindicating the location at which the respective portion is available,and further including one or more of the business rules pertaining tothe subset of the portions of online content, whereby operation of theVOD device is based at least in part upon the output information.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example content distributionsystem including an example content processing system that, among otherthings, facilitates the distribution of online content to a VOD systemas shown;

FIG. 2 is an additional schematic diagram showing in detail variousoperational subportions of the content processing system of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating features of an exampleaggregate hot list and example personal hot list as are employed by thecontent processing system of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a flow chart showing example steps of operation of the contentprocessing system of FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to FIG. 1, a block diagram of an example content distributionsystem 100 is shown in a simplified schematic form. As shown, thecontent distribution system 100 includes a content processing system 102that is in communication with (or capable of communications with) theinternet 104, by which the content processing system 102 is further incommunication with (or capable of communication with) first and secondweb servers 106 and 108, respectively. Communications between thecontent distribution system 100 and the internet 102 are represented bya communication link 110, while communications between the internet 102and the first and second web servers 106, 108 are represented byadditional communication links 112 and 114, respectively, whichthemselves can be (but need not be) considered to form part of theinternet as well.

As will be discussed in further detail below, the content processingsystem 102 among other things is able to receive information relating toonline content represented by rectangles 116 and 118 from the webservers 106 and 108, respectively, it being understood that thisinformation is transmitted from the web servers via the communicationlinks 112 and 114, respectively, and further via the internet 104 andthe communication link 110, for receipt by the content processing system102. The information can include actual online content (e.g., videos) aswell as associated information such as metadata, as described in furtherdetail below. The information arrives at the content processing system102 via one or more input ports 130 by which the content processingsystem is in communication with the internet 104. Upon being received inthis manner, a processor portion 132 of the content processing system102 processes that information as described in more detail with respectto FIGS. 2-4. Some or all of the information, whether it be the onlinecontent itself or information relating thereto (e.g., metadata) isstored further in a memory portion 134 of the content processing system102, which is in communication with the processing portion 132.

The processor portion 132 can take a variety of forms depending upon theembodiment (e.g., one or more of microprocessor(s), microcomputer(s),application-specific integrated circuit(s), etc.). Likewise, the memoryportion 134 can depending upon the embodiment take a variety of forms(e.g., one or more read-only memory devices, one or more random accessmemory devices, one or more static random access memory devices, one ormore dynamic random access memory devices, etc.). In at least someembodiments, the memory portion 134 (or a portion thereof) can beintegrated with the processor portion 132 (or a portion thereof) in asingle device (e.g., a processing device including memory orprocessor-in-memory (PIM)), albeit such a single device will stilltypically have distinct portions/sections that perform the differentprocessing and memory functions and that can be considered separatedevices.

Notwithstanding the above description relating to the first and secondweb servers 106, 108, it should be appreciated that, depending upon theembodiment, the content processing system 102 is capable ofcommunicating, via the internet 104, with any arbitrary number of webservers or other devices capable of internet-based communications. Also,depending upon the embodiment or implementation, the online content canbe pulled by the content processing system 102 by way of requests foronline content sent by the content processing system to the web servers106, 108, and/or pushed by the web servers 106, 108 for receipt by thecontent processing system 102 (e.g., where new online content is sent ona regular basis to the content processing system). For example, thefirst web server 106 can have a “push” relationship with the contentprocessing system 102 while the second web server can have a “pull”relationship with the content processing system.

The online content can vary considerably upon the embodiment and, amongother things, can contain video and audio data. In at least someembodiments, the web servers 106, 108 can be considered content providerwebsite (CPWs), which can be understood to generally encompass any of avariety of types of websites including, for example, social networkingwebsites (SNWs), business-to-business websites, business-to-consumerwebsites, news feeds, video broadcast or other broadcast sources, musicand photograph websites, or other sources of media content. Further forexample, such a CPW can include Facebook™, MySpace™, hi5™, LinkedIn™,and Twitter™, youtube.com, hulu.com, as well as sources of RSS or othernews feeds, photograph services such as Picasa™ or Photobucket™, andmusic services such as LastFM™.

The internet 104 should be understood to include any number of internet,intranet, and/or World Wide Web communication pathways, which can employnumerous intermediary hardware and/or software devices including, forexample, numerous routers, etc. Although the communication links 110,112, 114 are shown in FIG. 1 as being components of the contentdistribution system 100 that are distinct from the internet 104, thesecommunication links can also themselves be considered to constitute partof the internet 104 as broadly understood. It should be understood thatthe communication links 110, 112, 114 and internet 104 are intended tobe representative of any of a variety of hardware communicationsmechanisms or devices employed for conducting internet-typecommunications, including any of a variety of wired and/or wirelesscommunication devices or links such as cellular towers and accesspoints, landline connections (e.g., fiber optic or copper wiringconnections), microwave communications, radio channel communications,and/or wireless path communications. Also, any of a variety of softwareand/or communication protocols and methodologies can be used to conductthe communications over the internet 104 and the communication links110, 112, 114 including, for example, the transmission controlprotocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP), extensible messaging and presenceprotocol (XMPP), file transfer protocol (FTP), etc.

Still referring to FIG. 1, the content processing system 102 is furthershown to be in communication with a video-on-demand (VOD) system 120that can be considered to be (or include) a “head-end” system in whichcontent is stored. As will be described in further detail with respectto FIG. 2, online content and associated information (e.g., metadata) isoutput from the content processing system 102 (particularly from theprocessor portion 132) via one or more output ports 136, and is thenfurther transmitted to the VOD system 120 by way of a communication link138. The communication link 138 is intended to be representative of anyof a variety of types of hardware communications mechanisms or devices,including any of a variety of wired and/or wireless communicationdevices or links, as well as any of a variety of software and/orcommunication protocols and methodologies. Although the communicationlink 138 in FIG. 1 is not shown as involving the internet 104, in otherembodiments communications between the content processing system 102 andthe VOD system 120 can be or involve internet-type communications.

The VOD system 120 can take a variety of forms and have a variety ofdifferent components depending upon the embodiment. As shown, the VODsystem 120 is accessible by first and second content consumption devices(“CCDs”) 122 and 124, respectively, by way of further communicationlinks 126 and 128, respectively. As particularly illustrated in FIG. 1,the CCDs 122 and 124 can take the form of television sets (TVs) that canbe operated by users to perform selection, downloading and viewingoperations. In other embodiments, one or both of the CCDs 122 and 124can instead include any of a number of other forms of devices.Typically, the CCDs are devices with relatively large viewing screens.For example, in some other embodiments, one or both of the CCDs 122, 124can be computers with large monitors or displays that are incommunication with the VOD system 120. Also for example, in somealternate embodiments, instead of or in addition to one or more TVs, theCCDs 122, 124 can include one or more gaming device(s), netbook(s),e-reader(s), e-book(s), tablet device(s), navigation device(s) withvideo capable screen(s), and/or other devices that can be incommunication with the VOD system and employed by users for accessingcontent. Further, in some embodiments, the CCDs 122, 124 can be anydevices, including mobile devices (e.g., tablets), by which cableproviders provide direct streaming of broadcasted content (so as to makethose devices TVs in their own right). Thus, in at least someembodiments, the CCDs 122, 124 are representative of any device that iscovered by a cable operator and that has an application authorized by amultisystem (cable) operator (MSO) that supports VOD access. Finally, itshould be appreciated that, although in the present embodiment, the twoCCDs 122, 124 are shown as being in communication with the VOD system120, in other embodiments only one CCD or any arbitrary number of CCDsother than two CCDs (of any of the above-described types) are incommunication with the VOD system.

It should further be understood that each of the CCDs 122, 124 shown inFIG. 1 (or any other CCDs that can be present in other embodiments) canbe operated by users to interact with the VOD system 120 in variousmanners, such that users are able to select particular content availableat the VOD system 120, to download that selected content, and to consume(e.g., view) that selected, downloaded content on the CCDs. To allow forsuch operation, in at least some embodiments, the VOD system 120includes one or more memory devices by which content is stored on theVOD system, as well as one or more processing devices that allow for theVOD system to interact with other devices such as the CCDs 122, 124 soas to allow for the selection and downloading of content to thosedevices. Further, in at least some embodiments, the CCDs can includecable boxes or devices akin to cable boxes by which users of the CCDsare able to interact with the VOD system 120.

So that users operating the CCDs 122, 124 (or other media consumptiondevices) can interact with the VOD system 120, the CCDs can also includeprocessing and/or memory devices that at least allow for the CCDs toprovide interfacing functionality by which the CCDs are capable ofinteraction with both users (e.g., to allow for user selection ofdifferent content) as well as with the VOD system. As discussed furtherbelow, in the present embodiment the content processing system 102 iscapable of developing “hot lists” or priority lists of available and/orpreferred content items that are accessible by users. Such listinformation can be communicated not only from the content processingsystem 102 to the VOD system 120 but also from the VOD system to theCCDs 122, 124, and upon reaching the CCDs this information can beaccessed by users, who then are able to select content items from thelisted items so that those content items are displayed (or otherwiseprovided for consumption by the users) by the CCDs. In particular, upona user providing a selection to one of the CCDs 122, 124, a signal isprovided from that CCD back to the VOD system 120 and, in response, theVOD system delivers the selected content to the CCD so that the contentis displayed thereon (or otherwise provided for consumption by theuser). In at least some further embodiments, users can also provideinput signals to the CCDs indicative of user preferences and or userinquiries (searches) for particular content items.

In the present embodiment the VOD system 120 is physically locatedremotely from the CCDs 122, 124 (or other media consumption device(s)),albeit in some alternate embodiments the VOD system can be positionedproximate one or more of the CCDs (or other media consumptiondevice(s)). For example, the CCDs 122, 124 can be located in users'homes while the VOD system 120 can be located at a facility of a thirdparty cable system operator or the like. Also, in the present embodimentthe VOD system 120 is located physically remotely (apart from) thecontent processing system 102. That said, in other embodiments, thecontent processing system 102 can be physically proximate to, or evenadjacent to, or even formed in combination with, the VOD system 120. Itshould be understood that the internet 104 allows for communicationbetween the content processing system 102 and the web servers 106, 108(and other devices in communication with the internet 104) generallyirrespective of the relative physical locations of these devices, and itcommonly will be the case that the content processing system 102 islocated physically remotely from the web servers 106, 108 (and otherdevices in communication with the internet 104).

It should be noted that the term “content processing system” is usedherein for convenience herein but is not intended to be strictlyunderstood to only encompass systems that process actual online or othercontent such as videos, etc. Rather, although in some embodiments of thecontent processing system, the system actually receives and processesonline content or other content (e.g., commercial content as discussedbelow) available at sources such as the web servers 106, 108, in otherembodiments of the content processing system, the system only receivesand processes information relating to such online content, which caninclude (as described further below) various metadata, trendinformation, link reference information, etc. In that sense, the term“content processing system” is intended to broadly encompass a varietyof types of systems that vary in their responsibilities from merelyprocessing information relating to online or other content to actually(and/or in addition) processing the online or other content itself. Inembodiments where the content processing system actually receives onlineor other content, the content processing system can forward that content(as processed) to the VOD system 120. Further, it is envisioned that inother embodiments where the content processing system only processesother information (e.g., metadata) related to online or other content,but not the content itself, then the content processing system can stillcause or influence ingest of the online content or other content by theVOD system 120 by providing that other information to the VOD system,and then the VOD system can itself access the online content or othercontent of interest by way of the internet, etc.

Although as described herein the content processing system 102 operatesin a manner that facilitates the processing and distribution and,ultimately, the consumption (at devices such as the CCDs 122, 124) ofonline content available at devices such as the web servers 106, 108,the content processing system 102 is not intended to be limited to theprocessing and handling of such online content. Rather, the contentprocessing system 102 in the present embodiments is also incommunication with one or more commercial content providers 140, with“commercial content providers” being understood as encompassing a widevariety of sources of content that has already been processed orformatted in a manner suitable for the VOD system 120 and that typicallyis paid for by users who would like to consume that content. As shown,the content processing system 102 particularly includes one or moreinput/output ports 142 that are linked to the processor portion 132internally within the content processing system 102, and that furtherare in communication with the commercial content provider(s) 140 via oneor more communication links 144. As described further below with respectto FIG. 2, by virtue of the communication links 144, commercial contentand associated information can be received at the content processingsystem 102 from the one or more commercial content providers 140.

Upon being received at the content processing system 102, thatcommercial content and/or associated information can be processed by theprocessor portion 132 and/or stored in the memory portion 134. Themanner of processing of such commercial content and/or associated canvary depending upon the embodiment. Although in some circumstances suchprocessing is different than that performed in relation to the onlinecontent, in other circumstances the processing that is performed can beidentical or substantially similar to that performed in relation toonline content. The commercial content and associated information, uponbeing processed by the processor portion 132 (or potentially without anysuch processing), can be sent to the VOD system 120 again by way of theoutput port 136 and the communication link 138. In at least somecircumstances, the processor portion 132 can also send signals to theone or more commercial content providers 140 via the one or moreinput/output ports 142 and the one or more communication links 144.Further, although in the present embodiment the one or more commercialcontent providers 140 are shown to be in communication with the contentprocessing system 102, in other embodiments the commercial contentproviders are instead (or additionally) in communication directly withthe VOD system 120, by way of one or more other communication links 146(shown as a dashed line).

Turning to FIG. 2, operational features of the content processing system102 as it operates to process content and associated information, and tointeract with other components of the content distribution system 100,are shown in more detail. The components shown in FIG. 2 particularlyare intended to be representative of particular functional operationsperformed by the processor portion 132, albeit these operations in atleast some circumstances also involve collaboration of the processorportion with one or more of the memory portion 134, the input port 130,the output port 136, and the input/output port 142 of the contentprocessing system 102 as well. The functional operations, althoughrepresented by multiple distinct blocks, can all be performed by theprocessor portion 132 and need not each be performed by a separaterespective hardware component. That said, it is also possible that eachfunctional operation corresponding to a different respective block canbe implemented on a respective portion of the hardware forming theprocessor portion 132, or even by way of a respective processor and/orrelated component(s).

It should further be appreciated that FIG. 2 shows a simplified versionof the architecture of the content processing system 102 focusingparticularly upon aspects that are of relevance to the contentprocessing and distribution operations of the content processing system102. That is, FIG. 2 shows particular operational characteristics of thecontent processing system 102 that are useful for providing a “remoteingest service” in which online content plus possibly commercial contentas well is processed and handled in a manner that facilitates useraccessing and consumption of that content via a VOD system. That said,it should be understood that some additional functional operations (andcorresponding blocks) are omitted from FIG. 2 for clarity, even thoughsuch operations can be performed in various embodiments. Such additionalfunctional operations (and corresponding blocks) can include, forexample, those of an identity manager, and a publish/subscribepreferences manager.

In the present embodiment, the content processing system 102particularly is configured to operate to determine the desirability ofvarious online content available from internet-accessible devices suchas the web servers 106, 108 and to make such online content available(e.g., prioritize such online content) for consumption by users based atleast in part upon such determinations. The determinations as topriority of various online content in the present embodiment isdetermined based upon one or both of trend information from third partysources that is indicative of trends in the popularity of various onlinecontent, as well as explicit user requests for particular onlinecontent. In both of these cases, the particular online content madeavailable for users is made available based upon assessments of demand,either that of the “market” for such information generally or that of aparticular user (or users). For this reason, the operation of thecontent distribution system 100 and the content processing system 102particularly can be considered to constitute a process for achievingdemand-driven ingest of online content.

As shown in FIG. 2, in the present embodiment, the content processingsystem 102 particularly includes one or more trend monitors 202 and oneor more user portals 204. The trend monitors 202 monitor implicit trendinformation, such as aggregate trends from social networks, real-timefeeds or real-time usage statistics as can be provided from websitessuch as Twitter, and/or trend trackers (or trend tracking services),and/or other usage or trend statistics obtained from a variety of othersources (e.g., video sites). By comparison, the user portals 204 monitorexplicit user requests for particular online content as received fromthe VOD system 120 (the user requests having been communicated to theVOD system from the CCDs 122, 124 being operated by the users). Trendinformation can be communicated to the trend monitors 202 from webservers such as the web servers 106, 108 or other CPWs via the internet104 (and thus be received by the content processing system 102 at theinput terminals 130), and the provision of such information to the trendmonitors 202 is represented by arrows 206. The communication ofinformation from the VOD system 120 (and from the CCDs via the VODsystem) to the trend monitors 202 and/or to the user portals 204 isrepresented by arrows 208.

Still more particularly with respect to the implicit requests reflectedby trend information, trend information particularly can contain trendstatistics pertaining to given portions of online content (e.g., videos)available at given URLs (e.g., rates of references to a given video orkeyword, absolute counts of references, historical predictions for thatvideo/type etc.), alongside the URLs for that online content and relatedattributes (e.g., keywords, actors, etc.) provided by the trend source(which need not necessarily be the provider of the online contentitself). Among other things, trend information can be obtained by thecontent processing system 102 operating as a subscriber to multiplefeeds as well as a subscriber to various SNWs to monitor chatter relatedto various online content. The trend monitors 212 can cross-referencebetween such feed information identifying available online content andchatter/information pertaining to such online content, allowing thetrend monitors 202 to deduce trends relating to the online content(e.g., deduce whether a given video is currently popular or “hot” orbecoming so). In some cases, a dynamically-created “hot feed” can begenerated in which candidate video references (or other online contentreferences) come not from any single provider but from sometrend-monitoring service, such as viral-video monitoring services (e.g.,http://viralvideochart.unrulymedia.com/). Thus, real-time variations indemand for various online content items that can occur for a variety ofreasons (e.g., based on real-time events related to that contentincluding news stories, celebrity gossip or social recommendation) canbe taken into account in making such online content available to users.

Further with respect to the explicit requests (from users) received atthe user portals 204, such explicit requests can contain user IDinformation, the URLs of the online content, and deadlines (expirationtimes) by which the users wish to receive/consume that content, afterwhich the users can be assumed to have lost interest in viewing orotherwise consuming that item (that is, after a given deadline for agiven video has expired, it can be presumed that there is no longerdemand for that video). To facilitate the receipt and tracking of suchexplicit requests from users, in at least some embodiments, each userportal includes an identity or subscriber manager module (not shown).Such an identity or subscriber manager module in particular can be usedto authenticate one or more users and maintain respective personalizedhot lists with respect to each such user (as discussed further below,such a personalized hotlist can include elements that reference relatedcontent in an aggregated hot list/ranked hot feed).

Further as shown in FIG. 2, the content processing system 102 alsoincludes a link analyzer 210 that operates in communication with thetrend monitors and user portals 204. Increasing usage of redirectors andURL shorteners implies that any given specified/requested URL (e.g., asextracted from a feed or news article) may not be the URL to the actualonline content (e.g., video) of interest. Yet proper analysis of thedemand for the online content associated with different URLs by whichprioritization of different online content can be determined requiresthat the actual URLs for each portion of online content be properlyidentified. Consequently, in order to determine the demand for a givenportion of online content (e.g., an actual video), the contentprocessing system 102 in the present embodiment by way of the linkanalyzer 210 traces any pseudo-links concerning a given portion ofonline content back to the source URL for that online content.Hereinafter, such a source URL will be referred to as a “Link URL”.

More particularly, the link analyzer 210 operation to the trend monitors202 and user portals 204 as follows. Upon the trend monitors 202 anduser portals 204 receiving information pertaining to various onlinecontent (as represented by the arrows 206, 208), the trend monitors anduser portals pass along such information to the link analyzer. Thecommunication of such information (e.g., URLs, trend statisticsinformation, and relevant attributes of the video or other onlinecontent corresponding to the URLs) from the trend monitors 202 to thelink analyzer 210 is represented by an arrow 212, while thecommunication of such information (e.g., requested URLs, useridentification information, and/or deadline information) from the userportals 204 to the link analyzers 210 is represented by an arrow 214.Based upon this information, the link analyzer 210 determines thecorresponding Link URLs and then passes those Link URLs back to thetrend monitors 202 and user portals 204 (the “requesting entities”) asrepresented by additional arrows 216. Upon receiving the Link URLs, thetrend monitors 202 and user portals 204 are then able to maintainstatistics in relation to the actual sources of the online contentrather than in relation to pseudo-links, and therefore are able to trackstatistics accurately in relation to the properly-identified sources ofthe online content.

Additionally as shown, the content processing system 102 furtherincludes a provider adapters unit 220 and a business rules generator230, both of which are in communication with the link analyzer 210. Moreparticularly as shown, the link analyzer 210 in addition to performingthe aforementioned functions also passes on Link URLs (original onlinecontent source information as well as related attributes) to theprovider adapters unit 220 as represented by an arrow 222. In responseto receiving a given Link URL, the provider adapters unit 220 checks tosee if that Link URL has been processed before. If the Link URL has notever been processed before, then the provider adapters unit 220retrieves the metadata for that Link URL, normalizes that metadata, andthen stores the normalized metadata form against (in relation to) thatLink URL (e.g., within the memory portion 134). It can further be notedthat, in circumstances where statistics are shared for keywords insteadof at a link (e.g., video link) reference layer, this process is stillperformed, but the statistics will now be used to update both keywordand link level counts as useful.

In addition to performing the above operations in relation to Link URLinformation provided to it, the provider adapters unit 220 particularlyincludes one or more provider adapter modules that respectively existfor interaction with each respective independent online contentprovider. In the present example embodiment, given that the first andsecond web servers 106, 108 are shown in FIG. 1 as being online contentproviders, first and second provider adapter modules 224 and 225 areshown, respectively. The respective first and second provider adaptermodules 224, 225 respectively interact with the first and second webservers 106, 108 via respective internet (online) content feeds (shownas ICP1 and ICP2) established via the internet 104 and communicationlinks 110, 112, 114, such that online content and associated informationprovided from the respective web servers is received at the provideradapter modules via the input port 130. Although only the two provideradapter modules 224, 225 are shown in FIG. 2, it should be appreciatedthat the number of provider adapter modules will vary depending upon theembodiment and typically will vary over time (e.g., as the onlinecontent providers change over time). In at least some embodiments, thereis provided one provider adapter module per provider feed.

More particularly with respect to the provider adapter modules 224, 225receiving online content, each of these modules is particularlyresponsible for operating as a respective fetcher 226 and operating as arespective normalizer 227. When a given one of the provider adaptermodules 224, 225 operates in its capacity as the fetcher 226, suchoperation involves understanding how to interface to that module'srespective one of the content providers (that is, the first web server106 or second web server 108, as applicable) and extracting the contentmetadata from its respective feed (or feeds). By comparison, when agiven one of the provider adapter modules 224, 225 operates in itscapacity as a normalizer 227, such operation involves (upon receipt andextraction of the content metadata) mapping of that content metadataonto a normalized metadata format using provider-specific knowledgeabout semantic matching.

In this context, the provider adapter modules 224, 225 not only sanitizeincorrectly formatted or illegally-characterized strings but also fillin suitable defaults for any metadata elements that are expected by VODarchitectures (e.g., the expectations of the VOD system 120) but notpresent in all internet content by default (e.g., advisories). If thenormalizer 227 of one of the provider adapter modules 224, 225 finds acertain item is impossible to correct, it can trigger the sending of asignal to an exception handler 228, as represented by an arrow 229,which in turn can send a further signal 223 to the provider (again, oneof the web servers 106, 108) requesting correction—in most cases, thesimplest choice may be to drop that item from consideration.Additionally, it should be noted that the content metadata that isextracted and normalized can particularly relate to provider policiesrelating to use of the online content to be provided from thoseproviders. Often, such provider policies relate to static policies(e.g., the web server 106 can specify that clients are allowed to‘store’ the online content provided from that web server forredistribution for a maximum of 2 days) and not dynamic demand.

In addition to passing the Link URLs to the provider adapters unit 220,the link analyzer 210 further passes the Link URLs as well as statisticscorresponding to those Link URLs to a business rules generator 230 asrepresented by an arrow 232. By virtue of the communication of thisinformation, the business rules generator 230 particularly is apprisedalso of the existence of either an explicit or implicit request (basedupon a command received at the user portals 204 or based upon statisticsinformation received at the trend monitors 202). Further, the normalizedmetadata generated by the normalizers 227 of the provider adaptermodules 224, 225 also is sent, along with the Link URLs to which thatnormalized metadata corresponds, to the business rules generator 230 asrepresented by an arrow 234. Additionally, either as part of thenormalized metadata or separately (as represented by an arrow 235), thebusiness rules generator 230 can also receive information regarding anyrespective provider policies associated with the respective providers(e.g., the web servers 106, 108) at the Link URLs from which respectiveportions of online content (e.g., the online content 116, 118) arereceived. As discussed further below, such provider policies can specifyone or more obligations or constraints associated with the accessing ofthe online content at those providers.

In response to receiving the information as represented by the arrows232 and 234 (and possibly the arrow 235 as well), the business rulesgenerator 230 considers both the dynamic demand statistics providedalong with the request as indicated by the information received from thelink analyzer 210 as well as any information regarding provider-specificpolicies or normalized metadata that is provided to it by provideradapter modules 224, 225 of the provider adapters unit 220. Based uponits consideration of this information, the business rules generator 230in turn formulates (generates) business rules 231 pertaining to theonline content associated with the Link URLs. As discussed furtherbelow, the business rules 231 are ultimately forwarded to the VOD system120 for use by the VOD system in terms of making particular onlinecontent available to the various users of the CCDS 122, 124 with whichthe VOD system is in communication.

Depending upon the embodiment, the business rules 231 can take variousforms. In the present embodiment, the business rules 231 includelifetime rules specifying a respective lifetime or “shelf life” thatshould be ascribed to each respective portion of online content in termsof how long that online content should remain available (or remain assuggested online content) to users via the VOD system 120. Additionally,in the present embodiment, the business rules also include visibilityrules specifying restrictions in terms of which users should be allowedto view which respective portions of the online content. For example,some online content should not be made accessible to some users if theonline content is not suitable (e.g., because of its violent nature orthe language used in the online content). In at least some embodiments,the business rules 231 are incorporated with the online content itself(e.g., as metadata associated with that online content), in which casethe business rules 231 shown in FIG. 2 can be understood to include boththe online content associated with various Link URLs plus business rulesand other metadata associated therewith.

Although it is possible for the business rules generator 230 toformulate business rule(s) in some circumstances based merely upon theinformation received from the link analyzer 210 as represented by thearrow 232 or alternatively merely upon the information received from theprovider adapters unit 220 as represented by the arrow 234, often acombination of both the information from the link analyzer and theinformation from the provider adapters unit is useful (or evennecessary) for establishing particular business rules, particularlyfinal business rules that are suitable for governing the treatment ofparticular online content for a given lifetime. Also, in someembodiments or circumstances, one or more of the business rules 231previously developed by the business rules generator 230 in relation toone or more portions of the online content 116, 118 (for example,previously-ingested non-commercial content) can be and/or need to beupdated or modified (or otherwise adapted, for example, by creating newbusiness rule(s)) by the business rules generator. Such updates ormodifications can be made (and potentially can need to be made) as trendinformation received by the trend monitors 202 changes over time (forexample, as additional or supplemental trend information is receivedregarding previously-ingested content), as new requests are received viathe user portals 204, and/or as the portions of online content orinformation associated therewith (e.g., metadata associated with theonline content) change over time.

Numerous manners of exemplary operation of the business rules generator230 are possible. For example, suppose a demand is received at one ofthe user portals 204 indicating a need to store the online content 116in the VOD system 120 for 4 days, but the provider of that onlinecontent (the web server 106) has a policy allowing for that onlinecontent to be accessible for only 2 days. In such case, the businessrules generator 230 can determine a lifetime rule associated with thatonline content specifying a lifetime of 2 days (to honor the provider'spolicy) but schedule an alert to revisit the ID and re-ingest or refreshthe expiry date by another 2-day period after the expiration of thefirst 2-day period until demand expires. Alternatively, suppose a demandis received at one of the user portals 204 indicating that the onlinecontent 116 needs to be available (stored on the VOD system 120) formerely 24 hours, and that the web server 106 that is the provider ofthat online content still has the aforementioned 2-day rule. In suchcase, the business rules generator 230 will set the VOD system 120expiration to 24 hours even though, in view of the provider's policy,that online content could actually be stored for another 24 hourswithout any violation of the policy.

Additionally as shown in FIG. 2, the business rules 231 when newlyformulated and/or updated by the business rules generator 230 are sentto an Asset Distribution Interface (ADI) storage unit or database 236 asrepresented by an arrow 238. The ADI storage unit 236 is configured tohandle information in accordance with any one or more of several ADImetadata specifications that are available including, for example, asdescribed in “Metadata Specifications ADI 2.0 Specification AssetInventory Messages MD-SP-ADI2.0-AIM-I02-060505” dated May 5, 2006 madeavailable from Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. of Louisville, Colo.,which is hereby incorporated by reference herein. Even though thepresent embodiment is shown to employ the ADI storage unit, in otherembodiments any of a variety of other storage units or databaseshandling information (and particularly metadata) in other manners can beemployed. That is, in other embodiments, the storage unit or databaseneed not be an ADI storage unit or database as shown, but can take otherforms.

That said, again as mentioned below, the business rules 231 can beconsidered to include (at least in some circumstances) the normalizedmetadata associated with the online content at the Link URLs to whichthe business rules apply, as well as the online content (and Link URLs)itself. Thus, once a business rule is generated or an update to abusiness rule is completed, that business rule (or updated businessrule) is provided, along with the normalized metadata associated withthe online content to which that business rule pertains and the LinkURLs corresponding to that online content (and, in some embodiments,even possibly the online content itself), in an ADI-format or ADI-likeformat, to the ADI storage unit 236 and stored in that unit, where itcan then be accessed or published in any required representationincluding ADI or basic XML/JSON.

Additionally at the ADI storage unit 236, demand metrics are also usedto determine a ranking/priority for each online content item that isreferenced by the business rules 231 provided to the ADI storage unit.Based upon such rankings/priority determinations for multiple onlinecontent items, an aggregate priority list or aggregate hot list 240 iscompiled from the ADI storage unit 236. Although the aggregate hot list240 can take a variety of forms depending upon the embodiment, referringadditionally to FIG. 3, in the present embodiment the aggregate hot listcan take the form of a table having first, second, and third columns242, 244 and 245, respectively, in which are respectively listed hotlist identification codes, corresponding link URLs, and statusinformation regarding each portion of online content that has beendemanded/requested either expressly (via a request provided to the userportals 204) or implicitly (via trend information received by the trendmonitors 202). The listed online content items in the hot list 240 inthe present embodiment particularly are grouped into top and bottomregions 246 and 248, respectively, based upon whether the online contenthas a pending status or has been ingested by a certain time/date. Ineach of these regions, the online content items are particularly listedin the order of priority as determined by the ADI storage unit 236(e.g., higher priority to lower priority ordered from top to bottomwithin either of the regions 246 or 248).

Still referring to FIG. 2, as represented by an arrow 249, some or allof the information within the aggregate hot list 240, and particularlythe database identities/hot list identification information of storeditems of online content, are propagated back to the original requestorsof such portions of online content, namely, the trend monitors 202 anduser portals 204, enabling them to now track the rank or ingest-statusof each requested portion of online content. The trend monitors 202 usethis information to monitor the ingest status of each item of onlinecontent that was implicitly requested so that, if ingested, the trendmonitors can further track the demand for an item with an even finergranularity than would otherwise be possible, so as to be moreresponsive to updates that can lengthen or diminish the lifetime(s) ofparticular items of online content ultimately made available by the VODsystem 120 in accordance with the business rules 231.

As for the use of the aggregate hot list information by the user portals204, the user portals in particular use this information to create oneor more personal priority lists or personal hot lists 250 showing therelative priority of various user requests associated with eachrespective user who has made request(s) (or user interface devices atwhich request(s) have been made) for respective online content. As shownalso in FIG. 3, each personal hot list 250 has first, second, and thirdcolumns 252, 254, and 255, respectively, in which are listed hot listidentification information, Link URLs, and price information for eachrequested portion of online content. As with the aggregate hot list 240,the information in each personal hot list 250 can also be grouped intoregions/rows 256 based upon the price information in the third column255 (thus, the example shown, there are several such regions/rows showncorresponding to pricing that is free, or at a slab 1, or at a slab 2,etc.).

More particularly in this regard, in at least some embodiments it ispossible to implement demand-based pricing where the personal hot list250 can be broken down by operators into “slab” rates (associated withthe different regions/rows 256). Content in the topmost slab can be freeto subscribers since demand indicates that it will be watched bysufficient users and can thus be monetized (or subsidized) by othermeans like ads. Content in lower slabs can be priced in tiered fashionto balance smaller demand with costs for VOD system maintenance aroundthat item. Furthermore, when the request is initiated by auser/subscriber (indicating a higher degree of interest, that is, pullvs. push) then new pricing models can be utilized that take into accountthat subscriber's stated deadline as another criteria to be used inpresenting a more personalized slab pricing scheme via the personal hotlist associated with that user at the user portal. Users can be“persuaded” to then take additional steps to get the content at a pricethat they are willing to pay. For example, users can enlist friends toall request the same online content item in order to push it up the hotlist into a slab that is more conducive to their respective wallets, orthe users can extend the deadline by which the users are willing to viewthe content giving a broader window of opportunity to gather demandaround that item.

Still referring to FIG. 2, the aggregate hot list 240 determined at theADI storage unit 236 is in the present embodiment essentially anaggregate list of all received requests ranked in order of currentdemand. In many operational circumstances, the aggregate hot list 240 isor becomes too large to be completely ingested by VOD systems such asthe VOD system 120. Further, not every VOD system/head end is interestedin all content that is viral for a variety of reasons including, forexample, because some local viral content may be a niche market. Thisbeing the case, the content processing system 102 further includes afilter (or possibly multiple filters) 260 that is designed to allow VODservices (in headends) such as the VOD system 120 to register theirinterest in some subset of the aggregate hot list 240 based on eitherranking or content attributes, thereby allowing them to receive a subsetof online content items that are known to be in demand (based upon theinformation received at the user portals 202 and trend monitors 204) andalso are relevant to the particular targeted subscriber market of theparticular VOD system (such as the VOD system 120).

More particularly, as shown in FIG. 2, information regarding theaggregate hot list 240 and the business rules 231 (including any LinkURL, normalized metadata, and other information associated therewith,including possibly in some embodiments the online content of interestitself) is provided from the ADI storage unit 236 to the filter 260 asrepresented by an arrow 262. The filter 260 additionally is configuredto receive, from the VOD system 120, information regarding headend/VODsubscription interests, as represented by an arrow 263. This informationin at least some embodiments is representative of particular preferencesof particular users/subscribers who are interacting or registered withthe VOD system 120. Based upon this information, the filter 260determines which online content available to it and referenced by theaggregate hot list 240 is particularly appropriate for the VOD system120 (and/or the users interacting or registered with the VOD system).

In response to receiving this information, as represented by arrows 264the filter 260 in turn outputs (pitches) related metadata (ADI) packagesto the related ingest components within the VOD system 120 (headend),which is then responsible for actually populating the VOD system. Theinformation that is transmitted in this regard particularly includes thebusiness rules 231 (including new or updated business rules thatconstitute adaptations of prior business rules based in part uponnewly-received trend information or other information), normalizedmetadata, and Link URL information pertinent to the online contentdetermined to suitable for the VOD system 102, and also can be furthersupplemented by relevant portion(s) of the aggregate hot list 240 (oreven portions of the online content itself). In this manner, the VODsystem 120 is populated with information regarding online content thathas been requested or demanded (either expressly by a user associatedwith one of the CCDs 122, 124 as communicated to the user portals 204,or implicitly based upon trend information received at the trendmonitors 202), and that is suitable for the VOD system (and/or itsparticular users/subscribers) based upon the preferences of theusers/subscribers. Upon such information being provided, the VOD system120 is thus able to make available such online content to users at theCCDs 122, 124.

As already discussed, the interaction between the VOD system 120 and thecontent processing system 102 involves not only the transmission ofinformation relating to online content items from the content processingsystem to the VOD system 120 (as represented by the arrows 264) but alsothe communication of information from the VOD system to the contentprocessing system. Such communication of information from the VOD system120 to the content processing system 102 particularly includes not onlythe information regarding headend/VOD subscription interests (asrepresented by the arrow 263), but also the information represented bythe arrow 208. In this regard, the information represented by the arrow208 should be understood not only as encompassing user requests/demandsfor particular online content but also, when content is ingested at theVOD system 120, status updates that are provided back to therequestor(s) (to the user portals 204 and trend monitors 202). Basedupon this information, the trend monitors 202 are able to track ingesteditems with finer granularity. Also, the user portal 204 can use thisinformation to notify the user of the availability of particular onlinecontent that the user requested if the VOD system (headend) isassociated with this user's subscriber region.

Although the above discussion is focused upon components of the contentprocessing system 102 that handle online content, the same architecturecan be used also to handle commercial content, and more particularly canbe used to track dynamic demand for commercial assets and use these tosurface legacy items that are not scheduled for VOD, but that may takeadvantage of transient windows of opportunity caused by spiking interestaround the item or related attributes. For example, gossip around anactor may increase his/her profile for a few days such that users mayhave increased interest in revisiting older content featuring thatactor. In such cases, the content processing system 102 can operate asdiscussed above except insofar as one or more provider adapter modules(or commercial provider portals) 270 lacking any normalizer (but ratheronly including respective fetchers 226) are employed in the provideradapters module 220. That is, in such circumstances, because thecommercial content is already formatted in a clean, usable manner,normalization is not required.

That said, even in the case of commercial content, handling of thecontent can benefit from the dynamic business rule enforcement that canresult either in the item being ingested (if not existent) or beingextended (if existent) to meet demand. In some cases, the demand metricscan indicate that an existing item (pushed by a provider, such as one ofthe web servers 106, 108) has a lifetime larger than required by currentdemand. In some such cases, the exception handler 228 can be used alsoas a feedback mechanism to notify the provider of the conflict.Alternatively, in some such cases, the exception handler 228 (orprovider adapters module 220) can correct this automatically based onprovider-specified preferences for such cases.

Finally, it should also be noted that demand-driven ingest further haspotential usefulness in relation to non-VOD content. For instance, iftrending keywords or links reference content that has already beenscheduled for a live broadcast (e.g., syndicated series or movie channelitem) then this can help surface that content to users/subscribers inmeaningful ways. For example, such information can be used as the basisfor a mechanism allowing users to view hot list items on the currentweek's schedule and to set a record-request (or a reminder-to-watchrequest) for them with this context annotated. Or, where an explicitrequest for particular content has been made, the user can be notifiedthat the content item is already scheduled for live broadcast and berouted to the above options (or possibly to a TV on demand (TVOD) itemrelated to that request). It is further envisioned that the statusfeedback to the trend monitor can be useful to other cable/TV orsubscriber services that also use the same trend monitoring service.Thus, if the trend monitor 202 is notified of the successful ingest of acontent item seen on Twitter, it can then auto-annotate a “Watchon-demand” action against that link if/when it shows up on a user-facingapplication or stream (e.g., on a TV widget).

Turning to FIG. 4, a flow chart 400 shows example steps of operation ofthe content distribution system 100 and particularly operational stepsof the content processing system 102 in obtaining, processing, anddelivering online content to the VOD system 120, thereby facilitatinguser accessing and consumption of the online content. As shown, in theexample process represented by the flow chart 400, after starting at astart step 402, the process advances to a step 404 at which the contentprocessing system 102 receives link reference (URL) and trend statisticsinformation. This operation performed at the step 404 corresponds to thediscussion above regarding the operation of the trend monitors 202, bywhich the content processing system 102 receives trend informationregarding candidates for demand-driven ingest of online content at linkreferences. As already discussed, the trend monitor 202 among otherthings can receive social network information, trend trackinginformation and real-time usage statistic information.

Upon the receipt of the link reference (URL) and trend statisticsinformation, this information (or information generated based thereon)is provided to the link analyzer 210, which at a step 406 determineswhether the link references/URLs are known already by the link analyzer.As already discussed, it is important that the link references/URLs beanalyzed in this manner because, in at least some circumstances, the URLinformation originally received is merely a shortened URL or redirectionlink that really refers to another URL or link at which the available orpotentially desirable online content is actually located. If the linkreference is determined by the link analyzer 210 at the step 406 to bealready known (e.g., such that the link reference actually provides thelocation at which the desired online content is available, and thusconstitutes a Link URL as referred to above), then the process advancesto a step 408, at which the provider adapters unit 220 looks up (fetchesand, if appropriate, normalizes) the associated content metadata. Suchoperation can particularly be performed by one of the provider adaptermodules 224, 225 of the provider adapters unit 220.

If, however, it is determined by the link analyzer 210 at the step 406that the link reference/URL is not a known link, then the link analyzer210 operates to retrieve the source content link at step 410. Then,subsequently at a step 412, metadata for the content source is againretrieved by the provider adapters unit 220. Again, the obtaining of themetadata involves both operation of both the fetcher 226 and normalizer227 of an appropriate one of the provider adapter modules 224, 225 ofthe provider adapters unit 220.

Regardless of whether the content metadata is looked up at the step 408or the metadata is retrieved at the step 412, following each of thesesteps the process next advances to a step 414 at which the businessrules generator 230 operates to generate business rules for consumption.As shown, for the purpose of generating these business rules, thebusiness rules generator 230 not only receives the link and normalizedmetadata from the provider adapters unit 220 (following the steps 408 or412), but also it receives the link reference (that is, the Link URL)and trend statistics provided from the link analyzer 210. Next, at astep 415, the business rules 231 generated at the step 414 (along withthe normalized metadata, the relevant Link URL and possibly the actualonline content of interest at that Link URL as well) is provided to theADI storage unit 236.

Subsequently, at a step 416, the ADI storage unit 236 determines whetherthe content is valid. If the content is determined not to be valid atthe step 416, then the item is discarded at a step 417, after which theprocess ends at an end step 418. If, however, the content is determinedto be valid at the step 416, then the process advances to a step 420, atwhich the ADI storage unit 236 determines whether the online contentitem is on the aggregate hot list 240. If the online content item is noton the aggregate hot list 240, then the process proceeds to a step 422,at which a reference to the new online content item is added to that hotlist. Alternatively, if the online content item is already on theaggregate hot list 240 as determined at the step 420, then the processadvances instead to a step 424 at which the aggregate hot list isupdated to include any additional information (e.g., new trendstatistics or new business rules) related to that item.

Regardless of whether the aggregate hot list 240 is added to or updatedat the steps 422 and 424, respectively, the process in either case stillproceeds subsequently to a step 426, at which the content processingunit 102 sends a message to notify related subscribers (users) of theavailability of new or updated online content items. Subsequently thenat the step 428, the content subscriber preferences are received at thecontent processing system 102, as represented by the arrow 263 of FIG.2. Then, at a step 430, the filter 260 makes a determination as towhether the new or updated online content item is relevant to theparticular subscriber/user as indicated by the subscriber preferences.If at the step 430 it is determined that the online content is notrelevant to the subscriber/user, then the process proceeds to a step 432at which the online content item is again discarded and then the processends at the end step 418. However, if the online content item isdetermined to be relevant to the subscriber/user at the step 430, theninstead the process advances to a step 434 at which the contentprocessing unit 102 causing the ingesting of the online content Link URLand associated normalized metadata and any relevant business rules 231.That is, this information is sent by the content processing unit 102 forreceipt by the VOD system 120. As or after this occurs, at a step 436the aggregate hot list 240 and any relevant trend information beingmonitored by the trend monitor 202 are updated, after which the processagain ends at the step 418.

Although the process of the flow chart 400 particularly relates toembodiments or circumstances in which the operation of the contentprocessing system 102 relates to the distribution of online contentalone and does not include commercial content, it should be appreciatedbased upon the earlier discussion above that many of the operationsshown in the flow chart 400 will still be performed even when thecontent of interest is commercial content. However, typically when thecontent of interest is commercial content, normalization will not needto be performed in relation the metadata associated with that content.Further, although the process of the flow chart 400 does not involve thereceipt of express demands for particular content items that areprovided to the user portals 204, it should be appreciated based uponthe above discussion that the process can be modified to furtherencompass these operations, as well as operations related to themaintaining of personal hot lists 250.

In view of the above, it should be appreciated that, in at least someembodiments, the content processing system includes a trend monitoringservice that monitors real-time feeds (social networks, news) toidentify content URLs and relevant content keywords (e.g., actor names,movie titles) and publishes them to a hot feed service. Additionally,the content processing system includes service adapters for relevantcontent sites (in the provider adapters unit) that are triggered by theoccurrence of their respective URLs in pushed trends. These pull in thecurrent metadata for that service and “normalize” it to create a VODcompliant and consistent representation. Normalizing involves creatingconsistent semantics across provider-specific elements, and ensuringthat required elements are present OR provided with suitable defaults asnecessary.

Further, the content processing system in at least some embodimentsincludes a business adapter (the business rules generator) that uses thetrend statistics and provider policies in combination to automaticallydefine business rules for the online content (e.g., its lifetime andvisibility). If a given link was already ingested, then the role of thebusiness adapter is to propose and trigger an update to the businessrules pertaining to that link, for example, an update extending thelifetime of an already-ingested asset so as to cope with continuingdemand for that content. Also, the content processing system includes arecommender service which then ranks the trending content feed in thehot list. This service can be customized by the VOD architecture (bysetting preferences or rules) to then recommend or pitch only the subsetof this content that meets the current VOD needs. For instance, the VODsystem can set a filter of the content processing system to ask for onlythe top 10 items from the hot feed, or for only hot items with specifickeywords or providers, or can opt for real-time ingest of all hot feedcontent.

Additionally, in at least some embodiments, the trending servicecontinues to monitor links that are in the hot list, automaticallyupdating the business adapters (business rules generator) with changesin trends (up or down) directly. This can include, for example,identifying unanticipated drops in demand and correcting previouslyestablished rules accordingly. Also, in at least some embodiments, theservice adapters (provider adapters unit) include commercial contentprovider adapters. In at least some such embodiments (and by comparisonwith the internet content adapters that fetch and normalize metadataassociated with online content), the commercial content provideradapters operate to correlate trending “keywords” pushed by the trendingservice relative to provider back-catalogs to identify relevant contentthat can be surfaced against this demand. Based upon this operation,commercial content asset can then be pitched into the VOD system withdynamically-defined business rules regarding its visibility andlifetime. The ingest of such commercial content can take either of twoforms, namely, actually ingesting of content with those business rulesif that content (and business rules) are not already at the VOD system,or updating business rules for that content if it already exists in VODsystem but is set to expire before predicted end of demand.

In still further embodiments, a user-interface (the user portals) isprovided by which subscribers/users of the VOD system can submit directrequests for a content item (potentially either an online content itemor a commercial content item) by providing identification, URL, andexpiration information. (In at least some such embodiments the contentprocessing system can automatically proceed with the ingest processwhere the expiration information indicates the date at which the userwants the request to expire because the user will no longer beinterested in content at that time.) Further, in at least some suchembodiments, the user is able to obtain a personalized view of the hotlist showing where the user's request currently ranks in the priorityfor ingest. Thus the first user to submit a link may see that as alowest-priority item for the hot feed; however, if the user generatesdemand for the content (e.g., via his or her social interactions thatmay encourage others to demand the same content) or if trends showgrowing demand for the content, then the content will move up the listand be ingested at some point by the VOD system.

Additionally in this regard, it can be noted that, because the user isidentified with the link, he or she can be notified directly when thatcontent is available for consumption on the VOD system (or if thatcontent item is actually available on the week's scheduled programmingfor his or her current cable subscription). Second, in at least someembodiments it is possible to create a pricing-slab scheme for the hotlist where, because the subscriber identity is known, the operator cancreate a slab rate around the hot list where items in the top slab(“hot” items) are free to ingest, but items that fall under this slab(e.g., content items that have different rates of perceived demand) arepriced according to the anticipated demand such that users can get thatitem sooner if they are willing to pay a premium for it. The pricing canbe driven by localized demand or request expiry date.

From the above description, it should be appreciated that theabove-described content processing system is distinctive in itsoperation in that it employs dynamic demand information for onlinecontent items (and potentially other content as well) in settingbusiness rules for the visibility and expiration of those online contentitems within the VOD system 102 and as presented to CCDs such as TVs orother media consumption devices by the VOD system 102. Thus, informationregarding various (and fluctuating) consumer demand for online contentis used as a significant basis for automatically determining businessrules and making online content available accessible and determining thepriority of such accessible online content at least partly in accordancewith those business rules. Further, the content processing system isalso distinctive in that it performs normalization of metadataassociated with online content, by which all context information used todrive (or satisfy) business rules are available in a consistent format(despite diversity of formats, semantic mismatches, and omission errorsfound at many internet content portals). In at least some circumstances,the content processing system online content information can befiltered, searched or recommended using exactly the same metadatasemantics used for standard commercial content.

Aspects of the content processing system in its various embodiments asdescribed above are advantageous in numerous regards. In particular,features of the content processing system as described above makepossible and practical the ingest of online (internet) content thatwould otherwise be very difficult to ingest due to the enormous volumeof online content and metadata diversity associated with such content.Indeed, by turning usage to demand, it is possible to achieve low-costoperation for any of a variety of VOD architectures. Further,normalization processing particularly allows the content processingsystem to operate without reliance upon any assumed third partyprocessing or externally-imposed standard.

Additionally, from the above description, it should additionally beappreciated that in at least some embodiments the content processingachieves enhanced benefits in terms of also (or instead) consideringexplicit, user-defined, demand requests (e.g., as received by the userportals 204). Also, in at least some additional embodiments, such demandinformation (whether implicit or explicit) can further be employed todevelop pricing slab models, such as discussed with respect to thepersonal hot list 250. This can be captured simply by the visualizationof a personal hot-list for each subscriber/user giving each suchsubscriber/user real-time feedback on pricing models for differentcontent requests that adapt with real-time demand and consumerflexibility in fulfillment deadlines. Indeed, in at least someembodiments, there arises an ability to drive new demand-based pricingmodels around VOD content where subscribers can essentially pay premiumprices for low-demand content, or potentially try to drive up demand forcontent amongst social networks in order to reduce effective costs.

Further, in at least some other embodiments, the content processingsystem is able to set the lifetimes/expiration dates of particularonline content items based upon the demand-driven utility lifetime ofthose items, in a manner independent of (or largely independent of) anylifetimes ascribed to those items by the providers of those items. Also,in at least some embodiments, use of demand-driven ingest results in anability to increase awareness of older (hidden) catalog assets in thecontext of transient events that create viral interest around metadataattributes (e.g., actor) related to that content—thereby increasingstreams of revenue to operators.

Also, in at least some embodiments, benefits can be achieved byimplementing some or all of the aforementioned features in a contentdistribution system that also distributes commercial content. In thisregard, a demand-driven ingest solution particularly can increaserevenue by surfacing commercial content in the right context (based onspikes in demand that can occur for a variety of reasons including, forexample, due to unexpected events such as celebrity deaths, awards orgossip, related news stories, social recommendations, etc.) and reducethe overheads on the content providers themselves in having to manuallycurate and update their business rules for content that had either notbeen pitched, or that had been pitched but not configured to meet theappropriate lifetime or visibility criteria the event demands.

Additionally, in at least some embodiments in which there isnormalization (harmonization) of online (internet) content metadata tosuit existing requirements established for commercial content, it ispossible to further drive efficiencies by allowing these online contenttypes to be assimilated for use by a commercial content VOD system withminimal changes required to other components in the system (e.g.,recommenders, storefront catalogs, etc. that are driven by metadata canreason on and use the normalized metadata associated with the onlinecontent in the same or substantially similar manner). Also, in a leastsome implementations, the content distribution system allows a cableoperator or other content distributor to gather analytics aboutsubscriber interests in content outside of the cable ecosystem viaexplicit request APIs, even if that user's request has insufficientdemand to actually fulfill it for free (without this capability, usersmight simply watch content online where the cable operator cannot trackbehaviors).

Thus, it is specifically intended that the present invention not belimited to the embodiments and illustrations contained herein, butinclude modified forms of those embodiments including portions of theembodiments and combinations of elements of different embodiments ascome within the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for presenting online content in avideo-on-demand service, the method comprising: receiving identifyinginformation of a plurality of online media content items; receivingtrend statistical information relating to the plurality of online mediacontent items; determining a lifetime value for each of the plurality ofonline media content items based at least in part on the trendstatistical information; generating a ranked list of online mediacontent items that includes the plurality of online media content itemsbased at least in part on the trend statistical information; causing atleast a portion of the ranked list to be provided to the video-on-demandservice; receiving, from the video-on-demand service, informationindicating that a subset of the online media content items from theranked list have been ingested by the video-on-demand service;obtaining, for each of the subset of online media content items thathave been ingested, updated trend statistical information; determining,for each of the subset of online media content items, an updatedlifetime value based on the updated trend statistical information;updating the ranked list of online media content items based at least inpart on the updated trend statistical information; and causing at leasta portion of the updated ranked list to be provided to thevideo-on-demand service.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the trendstatistical information includes at least one of: real-time feedinformation, aggregate trend information from one or more socialnetworking websites, real-time usage statistics, trend tracking serviceinformation, and viral video tracking information.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: obtaining, for each of the plurality ofonline media content items, metadata relating to the online mediacontent item; normalizing, for each of the plurality of online mediacontent items, the metadata relating to the online media content itemusing a predetermined format; and wherein generating the ranked listfurther comprises ranking the plurality of online media content itemsbased at least in part on the normalized metadata associated with eachonline media content item.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:receiving information indicating that the video-on-demand servicereceived an express demand request for a first online media content itemof the plurality of online media content items from a user portal; andwherein generating the ranked list further comprises ranking theplurality of online media content items based at least in part on theindication that the video-on-demand service received the express demandrequest for the first online media content item.
 5. The method of claim1, wherein the ranked list of online media content items comprises atleast one link reference associated with a media content item in theranked list, wherein the at least one link reference indicates alocation at which a portion of the media content item is available. 6.The method of claim 5, wherein the lifetime value associated with themedia content item is determined by analyzing the at least one linkreference of the media content item.
 7. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: receiving a preference of a user of the video-on-demandservice; and wherein generating the ranked list further comprisesranking the plurality of online media content items based at least inpart on the preference of the user of the video-on-demand service.
 8. Asystem for presenting online content in a video-on-demand service, thesystem comprising: a hardware processor that is programmed to: receiveidentifying information of a plurality of online media content items;receive trend statistical information relating to the plurality ofonline media content items; determine a lifetime value for each of theplurality of online media content items based at least in part on thetrend statistical information; generate a ranked list of online mediacontent items that includes the plurality of online media content itemsbased at least in part on the trend statistical information; cause atleast a portion of the ranked list to be provided to the video-on-demandservice; receive, from the video-on-demand service, informationindicating that a subset of the online media content items from theranked list have been ingested by the video-on-demand service: obtain,for each of the subset of online media content items that have beeningested, updated trend statistical information; determine, for each ofthe subset of online media content items, an updated lifetime valuebased on the update trend statistical information; update the rankedlist of online media content items based at least in part on the updatedtrend statistical information; and cause at least a portion of theupdated ranked list to be provided to the video-on-demand service. 9.The system of claim 8, wherein the trend statistical informationincludes at least one of: real-time feed information, aggregate trendinformation from one or more social networking websites, real-time usagestatistics, trend tracking service information, and viral video trackinginformation.
 10. The system of claim 8, wherein the hardware processoris further programmed to: obtain, for each of the plurality of onlinemedia content items, metadata relating to the media content item;normalize, for each of the plurality of online media content items, themetadata relating to the online media content item using a predeterminedformat; and rank the plurality of online media content items based atleast in part on the normalized metadata associated with each onlinemedia content item.
 11. The system of claim 8, wherein the hardwareprocessor is further programmed to: receive information indicating thatthe video-on-demand service received an express demand request for afirst online media content item of the plurality of online media contentitems from a user portal; and rank the plurality of online media contentitems based at least in part on the indication that the video-on-demandservice received the express demand request for the first online mediacontent item.
 12. The system of claim 8, wherein the ranked list ofonline media content items comprises at least one link referenceassociated with a media content item in the ranked list, wherein the atleast one link reference indicates a location at which a portion of themedia content item is available.
 13. The system of claim 12, wherein thelifetime value associated with the media content item is determined byanalyzing the at least one link reference of the media content item. 14.The system of claim 8, wherein the hardware processor is furtherprogrammed to: receive a preference of a user of the video-on-demandservice; and rank the plurality of online media content items based atleast in part on the preference of the user of the video-on-demandservice.
 15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium containingcomputer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor,cause the processor to perform a method for presenting online content ina video-on-demand service, the method comprising: receiving identifyinginformation of a plurality of online media content items; receivingtrend statistical information relating to the plurality of online mediacontent items; determining a lifetime value for each of the plurality ofonline media content items based at least in part on the trendstatistical information; generating a ranked list of online mediacontent items that includes the plurality of online media content itemsbased at least in part on the trend statistical information; causing atleast a portion of the ranked list to be provided to the video-on-demandservice; receiving, from the video-on-demand service, informationindicating that a subset of the online media content items from theranked list have been ingested by the video-on-demand service;obtaining, for each of the subset of online media content items thathave been ingested, updated trend statistical information; determining,for each of the subset of online media content items, an updatedlifetime value based on the updated trend statistical information;updating the ranked list of online media content items based at least inpart on the updated trend statistical information; and causing at leasta portion of the updated ranked list to be provided to thevideo-in-demand service.
 16. The non-transitory computer-readable mediumof claim 15, wherein the trend statistical information includes at leastone of: real-time feed information, aggregate trend information from oneor more social networking websites, real-time usage statistics, trendtracking service information, and viral video tracking information. 17.The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein themethod further comprises: obtaining, for each of the plurality of onlinemedia content items, metadata relating to the online media content item;normalizing, for each of the plurality of online media content items,the metadata relating to the online media content item using apredetermined format; and wherein generating the ranked list furthercomprises ranking the plurality of online media content items based atleast in part on the normalized metadata associated with each onlinemedia content item.
 18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium ofclaim 15, wherein the method further comprises: receiving informationindicating that the video-on-demand service received an express demandrequest for a first online media content item of the plurality of onlinemedia content items from a user portal; and wherein generating theranked list further comprises ranking the plurality of online mediacontent items based at least in part on the indication that thevideo-on-demand service received the express demand request for thefirst online media content item causing the one of the plurality ofmedia content items to be presented in the video-on-demand service basedon the express demand request.
 19. The non-transitory computer-readablemedium of claim 15, wherein the ranked list of online media contentitems comprises at least one link reference associated with a mediacontent item in the ranked list, wherein the at least one link referenceindicates a location at which a portion of the media content item isavailable.
 20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19,wherein the lifetime value associated with the media content item isdetermined by analyzing the at least one link reference of the mediacontent item.
 21. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim15, wherein the method further comprises: receiving a preference of auser of the video-on-demand service; and wherein generating the rankedlist further comprises ranking the plurality of online media contentitems based at least in part on the preference of the user of thevideo-on-demand service.